Conte Confirms Injury Blow, 4 Players To Miss Burnley Game

12 August 2017, 05:56 | Melissa Porter

Conte Confirms Injury Blow, 4 Players To Miss Burnley Game

City certainly haven't let up in the transfer window with numerous players going in and out of the Etihad Stadium in the summer months, with a number of familiar faces been replaced by a new roster of new faces.

The Spurs had the best goal differential in the English Premier Leaguelast season at +60 but fell short of Chelsea by seven points with a 26-4-8 record. "We were focused on the striker scoring goals and when it didn't happen we were in trouble".

Pep explained City's heavy investment, saying, "We had one of the oldest teams in the Premier League so we made a decision to put energy in the team for the next five, six years".

City open their Premier League campaign on Saturday with a trip to newly-promoted Brighton.

There's nothing appealing about the 12/1 offered for a first league win since 2004 and we won't be taking the 10/1 available for a Tottenham triumph. In the cups we never lost, and in the Europa League, we never lost, so for the whole season, we lost one match.

"We had lots of dominance at home, lots of chances, lots when the match should be two or three nil and in the end was 1-1".

"The club was clever like that because we anticipated what we needed after last season".

Mourinho won the league in his second seasons at Porto, Real Madrid and Inter Milan, as well as in both of his stints at Chelsea, but he expects this season's title race to be an almighty scrap. Defenders Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and winger Ashley Young are out with long-term injuries.

The Portuguese coach concedes his squad is "similar" to the one he took charge of last season.

City is much more equipped to launch a sustained title challenge, with Guardiola close to having his ideal squad.

Brighton and Hove Albion - Although in my bottom three, I see this as a great opportunity for Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan as he's going to be very busy.

"In my initial analysis from January and through the months I was thinking of four players but I'm not a hard person to work with in spite of if you make it look different", he said at his pre-match presser.

"For example, hopefully next season I will be here and we are not going to spend how we spent this season".

Fuelled by the personal intensity that inspired Chelsea's return to the top, Antonio Conte has vowed to stop the champions becoming the latest victims of the Premier League's sophomore slump. Chelsea, without European football, were able to run away with the title, as Leicester managed to do the season before. I saw him on the TV last season, but it will depend on how he and the other players adjust to the Premier League.

"He is strong, but he also has good movement around the field and if I am playing as a defender then I would not like to play against him!" Eric Bailly, bought past year for £30m, and Antonio Valencia, are the only two defenders who look assured of a starting spot.

"But they are for wonderful players, so good luck to them if they can do that. There is no advantage for anyone".